National Chairman, Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur
Who laughs last in the battle for the soul of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party?
An answer to this will emerge at the party’s National Executive Committee meeting on Thursday (today) where governors loyal to Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, and those in the Jonah Jang camp will play prominent roles in determining whether or not Bamanga Tukur will retain his job as PDP’s national chairman.
The Amaechi group is allegedly pushing for Tukur’s removal while the Jang faction backed by members of the party’s caucus, including the Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Chief Tony Anenih, is bent on his (Tukur) retention in office.
Cracks in the PDP governors’ group widened on May 24 when some defied a directive by the party’s national leadership to pick Governor Jang of Plateau State as the Nigeria Governors’ Forum Chairman. They teamed up with opposition governors to ensure that Amaechi defeated his Plateau State counterpart in the poll.
An embarassed PDP leadership, backed by the Presidency, had in its bid to whittle the influence of the NGF, created its own governors forum which is headed by Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State.
The NEC meeting is expected to deliberate on and find solutions to the crises rocking the PDP. Many believe that the fate of Tukur, whose leadership is being accused of causing many of the problems in the party would be determined at the forum.
The NEC has among others, the President, his deputy, the National Chairman of the party, Chairman and Secretary of the Board of Trustees; all other members of BOT, the President of the Senate, the Deputy President of the Senate, Speaker, Deputy Speaker, all PDP governors, state chairmen and their deputies and many of the NWC officials as members.
A confident Tukur had on Tuesday boasted that he would not resign and told those angling for his ouster that there was no vacancy in the PDP chairmanship.
He had said, “Chairman is there dam dam. The chairman is not only in office, he is (also) in power. In PDP, there is no vacancy in the national chairmanship.”
Investigations on Wednesday revealed that in spite of the PDP chairman’s confidence, the pro-Amaechi governors were mobilising neutral NEC members to ensure that Tukur is booted out of office during the meeting today.
It was learnt that the governors that want Tukur to quit included Sule Lamido (Jigawa); Aliyu Babangida (Niger); Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto); and Murtala Nyako (Adamawa).
In the Jang faction are Godswill Akpabio(Akwa Ibom); Gabriel Suswan (Benue); Emmanuel Uduaghan (Delta); Liyel Imoke (Cross River); Mukhtar Yero( Kaduna); Idris Wada (Kogi); Isa Yuguda (Bauchi); Theodore Orji (Abia); and Silvan Chime (Enugu) .
The Amaechi group is said to have hinged its decision on the argument that Tukur could not be absolved from most of the crises in the party.
They were said to have cited the suspension of Amaechi and Wamakko, which they described as high-handed.
One of the party’s NWC members, who resigned on Wednesday, said he was aware that some governors were pushing for Tukur to go.
He said that although eight members of the NWC resigned because of the report of the Independent National Electoral Commission, which faulted their elections, the governors felt the chairman must go too.
The former NWC member said, “The pro-Amaechi group in the PDP wants the chairman to go because they believe that he is responsible for most of the crises rocking the party.”
It was, however, learnt that the pro-Jang group on Wednesday intensified efforts to save Tukur. It was gathered that the group felt the motive of the anti-Tukur forces was selfish.
A top member of the party, who confided in one of our correspondents, said that the Jang group believed that those calling for Tukur’s removal were after President Goodluck Jonathan.
He said, “Their game plan is to push out Tukur and take control of the party ahead of the 2015 general elections. These are the people that do not want the President to contest in 2015.”
One of the pro-Jang governors, had after the national caucus meeting of the party on Tuesday, said that Tukur would not be removed.
He had stated, “For our chairman, I believe strongly that there is no shaking. He is the national chairman. I don’t see any problem with the national chairman.”
However, on Wednesday the 14 governors who were part of the “gang of 16 ” behind Jang during the NGF election , had advised President Goodluck Jonathan against the removal of Tukur.
They were said to have informed Jonathan that there was no way he would be able to install his candidate if there was a fresh national convention.
One of the governors, who spoke with one of our correspondents on condition of anonymity, said they were able to convince the President that their colleagues who refused to vote for Jang as the chairman of the NGF despite the party’s directive, would also move against his ( President) candidate at any convention.
“We told him not to trust the governors, especially now that they had come out as his enemies and enemies of the party,” the governor said.
He explained that it was before the final agreement was reached on whether Tukur would go or not that made Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, to say that consultations were ongoing on the national chairman’s fate.
Meanwhile, the outgoing National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh, has confirmed that he and seven other members of the National Working Committee had resigned from office.
Metuh, who spoke with journalists in his office, said their resignation letters would take effect from Thursday (today).
He said,“I want to inform you that I am resigning as the National Publicity Secretary with effect from Thursday, June 20, 2013.
“This resignation is in the overall interest of the party and is being done to put a final stop to the controversies generated by the INEC report on the mode of my election as National Publicity Secretary.”
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